Review of A Black Deeper Than Death by M.E. Purfield

Miki Radicci, a
16-year-old famous artist, leads a secluded life in New York City. Not
that she wants to dodge the press and celebrity; she wants to avoid
people all together since she has the psychic ability to experience
other people’s physical and emotional pain when near them. It gets so
bad for her to handle that not even Xanax and alcohol can relieve the
pain.

When she accidentally experiences the murder of a
prominent business student from NYU, Miki attracts the attention of the
police and the killer who threatens her and her family. But Miki doesn't
really know enough to identify the killer. She experiences the death
but can't see his face.

Miki decides to learn as much as she can
about the killer by delving into the victim's secret life. She follows
an urban underground trail that leads to goth modeling and low level
criminals. As she discovers the limits to her psychic talents and her
ballsy actions, she realizes that the killer is not who she thinks it
is, but rather someone close to her life.

Although a short novel, this first book in the Miki Radicci series feels like a full novel and I sped through it, trying to guess who the killer was before we got to the end of the book. Hint: I didn't guess who it was. I loved Miki, although she's a 16 year old art genius and alcoholic I felt that I could really connect with her and I loved her character. All of her actions are alcoholism are explained perfectly, which helped a lot!

The author describes this as YA Urban Noir Fantasy and I definitely agree with him - it has all the gritty, urban noir elements - crime scenes, dark streets and darker intentions. But we also have a few typical elements from YA Paranormal too - including a very attractive guy named Chris, who has inherited his Father's fortune - also known as a company who produces most of the cleaning products found under Miki's sink. Chris is really sweet and I really loved him!
But wait, there's more... Paranormal elements. As you've probably seen above Miki has a thing where she can feel other people's emotions - something that I really understand why it was a huge problem when her best friend Corey bangs his thumb when making her canvas things Did I mention he's also awesomely gay? I have so much love for this character.
The ending was SAD though. Like I said, I didn't guess the killer - there were so many twists and turns in this though, I'm not surprised! The author has A LOT of sequels planned and I plan to devour every single one, I can't wait to read more about Miki!